Night of Power

Night of Power - Imam Zaid Shakir

The Blessed Month of Ramadan

With the great month of Ramadan, a month of forgiveness, a month of mercy, a month of liberation from the hellfire. Our Prophet once described Ramadan in the following words:

That its first ten days embodies mercy, its middle third embodies forgiveness, and its latter third, liberation from the hellfire.

And as Ibn Rajab al-Hanbali says in his commentary on this:

All of it is mercy. All of it is forgiveness. All of it is liberation from the hellfire. But during these particular times, those qualities predominate. So the mercy predominates in the first part, forgiveness in the middle part, and liberation from the hellfire in the latter part.

The Last Ten Nights of Ramadan

During the last ten days of Ramadan which we're in, these are described as the greatest nights of the year. Most of our scholars say the first ten days of Dhul Hijjah are more virtuous than the days of Ramadan, but the last ten nights of Ramadan are more virtuous than all other nights. So this is a blessed time. It's a time we seek out Laylatul Qadr.

We seek it out on the odd nights of the last ten days of Ramadan. And this is why we spend all ten days seeking it out. Something that many people... or what's something that escapes many people, and that is if the night of power falls on the odd nights of the last ten nights of the month, if it's a 29-day month, which is a possibility, then the last ten nights start on the 19th, and the odd nights would be the 19th, the 21st, the 23rd, etc. And if it's a 30-day month, then the last ten days would start on the 20th, and the odd nights would be the 20th, the 22nd, the 24th, etc.

So the believer not knowing if it's going to be a 29-day month or a 30-day month, and this Ramadan we're truly in doubt, and so we spend all of those nights seeking the night of power.

The Virtues of Laylatul Qadr

And Allah describes the night of power in the Qur'an:

Verily we've sent down the Qur'an in the night of power, and then we could say in the night of decree.

The night of power is better than a thousand months.

The Mercy of Allah to the Ummah

Why is that? Some of our scholars say that the earlier nations, as we know, for example, the people of Nuh, they lived to be a thousand years. They lived to be 800, 900 years, 1200 years. But the Ummah of Muhammad, the average lifespan is 60 some odd years. Our Prophet passed away at 63 years old. Abu Bakr passed away at 63 years old. Umar passed away at 63 years old. This is the average life, the 60s, 70s.

So Allah in His mercy, since we don't have 800 years to worship Allah, or we don't have 900 years or a thousand years to worship Allah, Allah is giving the Ummah of Muhammad Laylatul Qadr. And He says the worship in this night is like the worship of a thousand months. It's even more virtuous, it's better. Laylatul Qadr khayrun min alfi shahr. The night of power is better than a thousand months.

So we don't get to live one thousand years to worship Allah, but we have one night every year that's worth 83 years. A thousand months equates to over 83 years. So Allah out of His mercy and His favor to the community of Muhammad has shortened our life span, but in that life span, He's given us one night every year. The worship therein is better than the worship of a thousand months.

Making the Most of This Blessed Night

So why are you watching television? Why are you spending all night eating? It's one thing to break the fast, but it's another thing to just hang around socializing for the next four or five hours when there's a night whose worship is worth a thousand months, and not just any thousand months. It's related that this thousand months is a thousand months of a man from the Bani Israel, from the earlier communities, who put on his armor and took his weapons and went forth and defended the religion for a thousand months. And he worshiped Allah while he was in his armor with his weapons, defending the religion for a thousand months. The night of power of the worship is better than his thousand months. So not just a chronological demarcation of time, but the thousand months of a man who's worshiping Allah while wearing his armor and defending the faith. Laylatul Qadr is better than that thousand months.

The Descent of the Angels

And then Allah says, subsequently:

The angels descend. And when the angels descend, they have something in their mind. What is in their mind? Allah relates in the Qur'an:

And when your Lord said to the angels, verily I'm going to create in the earth a vicegerent. They said, will you place therein one who will work much corruption and shed blood while we glorify you and sing your praises, glorify your praises and exalt your holiness. And He said, Allah said, verily I know that which you know not.

So you know the superficial outward manifestation of the human being, but I know the human potential. You know the outward, but I know the inner. And I know that this human being has the potential to do what you do.

So when you go down to the earth on Laylatul Qadr:

When you go down to the earth during these nights of Ramadan, during these last 10 nights of Ramadan, you will see a most wondrous creation. You will find the believers from the Ummah of Muhammad that they're glorifying their Lord. They're singing the praises of their Lord. They're exalting His holiness.

You will find them, if you descend in the day, you will find them fasting. And if you descend in the night, you will find them standing in prayer. You will find them reciting the Book of Allah. You will find them glorifying the praises of your Lord. You will find them doing what you boasted of.

You will find them doing that.

The Unique Nature of Human Worship

But you will find them doing something you are incapable of doing. You do it instinctively. You do it with no choice. They do it voluntarily. They do it of their own free choice. Look at them. Look at Bani Adam. Look at Bani Adam during these nights. Look at the believers in Ramadan. Look at the believers during the last 10 nights of Ramadan. Look how they're standing in prayer before their Lord. Look how they're reciting the Book of Allah. And look how peace permeates amongst them.

The Human Potential

This is the human potential. This is what Ramadan is about, brothers and sisters. It's about getting in touch with our human potential. But our human potential is not flesh and bones. It's not blood. It's not hair. If that's our human potential, then there's nothing to distinguish us from an ape. Well, some people say we're descended from apes, so we'll make it more plain. If that's our human potential, just blood and hair and bones and muscle and flesh, there's nothing to distinguish us from a rat that's crawling around in the sewage.

And it's no coincidence that those people who want to deny the spiritual nature and the spiritual essence of the human being, that Allah breathed into this creature:

And He fashioned him and breathed into him of His spirit, not a spirit within him, a spirit that He created. He breathed it into the human.

Consciousness Beyond the Physical

And that bequeathed unto the human being consciousness that transcends flesh and bones. It transcends the brain. We were discussing last night with a group of brothers a book written by a neuroscientist. His name is Eben Alexander. A world class neuroscientist who went into a coma for seven days. Lost all brain function. Whatever machine measures brain function. There's a lot of doctors here. Whatever you call it. EEG or whatever. Flat line. No brain activity. Gone.

Yet he was perceiving realms beyond this physical world. His book, he emerged miraculously. But we don't know, we don't say miraculously. We say by the command of Allah. Just as the angels in the night descend by the command of his Lord after seven days, when the doctors have written him off. When the doctors called all of his family members from far and wide to say their last regards, because they were sure he's going out. His brain is dead. He's gone.

On the seventh day, after he knows superficially massive damage to the cortex of his brain, he sat up in bed and asked, where am I? And within a few months had regained all of his memory. All of his mental functions. And he wrote a book about his experience in that realm beyond this world. And he called his book, Proof of Heaven. And as a world class neuroscientist, neurologist, he said there is no physical explanation to what I experienced. So this realm of consciousness is not rooted in the brain.

But we already know that. Because we know it's rooted in the heart. But not the physical bump, bump, bump, bump heart. But the qualities that make us human whose locus is in the heart. This is what we know as believers.

Ramadan: Feeding the Soul

And Laylatul Ramadan is to put us back in touch with that. By denying our flesh. Not feeding our flesh. We feed our ruh. And when we feed our ruh, we release the power that allows us to stand in prayer for 2 or 3 hours. And then come back at 4 in the morning. And then read, pick up our Quran. And read it without tiring. The only thing stopping us, we have to go to work. Or we have to attend to some business. That's the only thing that stops us. But we have the spiritual energy to read it all day. That's what Ramadan is doing. It's putting us in touch with that aspect of our being from which that spiritual energy emerges. And this is the source of our humanity. Not the blood and the flesh. And this is what Ramadan puts us back in touch with. This is a great blessing of Ramadan.

Unlocking the Key to Taqwa

And this unlocks the key to taqwa. This unlocks the key. Allah tells us:

O you who believe, fasting has been ordained for you as it has been ordained for you believers. It is to open the realms of God consciousness that translates into obeying God.

And where does the obedience come from? It comes from realizing the gravity and magnitude of the Quranic message. These are the three things that Ramadan brings together for us. It brings together the fasting:

It brings together the Quran:

And it brings together taqwa:

And what does the taqwa do for us?

ذُلِكَ الْكِتَابُ لَا رَيْبَ فِيهِ This is the scripture, the Quran. There is no doubt about it. هُدًى لِلْمُتَّقِينَ It is guidance for those who have taqwa. It is guidance for those who fast. And the fast equips onto them taqwa لَعَلَّكُمْ تَتَّقُونَ And the taqwa opens up the Quran for them.

The Eternal Speech of Allah

And the Quran puts them in touch with somebody from beyond this world. Because the Quran embodies the eternal speech of Allah. It's not of this world. It's of this world yet Allah has given us to write beyond this world. And so when Allah describes it, He doesn't describe it with something close that's of this world. He doesn't say:

Even though it's right here in our hands.

Because what's in our hands is from beyond this world. But if we internalize this message, it will enhance our consciousness and allow us to move beyond this world. While in this world, this is the great gift of Ramadan for those who choose to accept it from Allah.

Khutbah Continuation

الْحَمْدُ لِلَّهِ رَبِّ الْعَالَمِينَ وَالصَّلَاةُ وَالسَّلَامُ عَلَى سَيِّدِنَا مُحَمَّدٍ وَعَلَى آلِهِ وَصَحْبِهِ وَسَلَّمَ تَسْلِيمًا كَثِيرًا

Our Identity as Muslims

Brothers and sisters, we should never be ashamed of being a Muslim because of all the negativity that's being

directed towards Islam and Muslims. Our identity, our sense of self is based on our relationship with our Creator. It's not based on what's printed in the newspaper. The same people who are denigrating Islam are the same people who are advocating policies of death and destruction all over this world. The same people who don't have the moral courage to challenge the military-industrial complex that defines to a large extent politics in this country and certainly foreign policy. The atrocities we see and we won't dwell on it's Ramadan, we stay positive, but those are the people who are demonizing Islam to make this enemy to justify their policies.

Those are the people who demonize immigrants to justify the massive network of detention centers and private prisons. Those are the people that demonize young African-American youth to make sure that the pipeline from our poorest neighborhoods into our prisons stay open as opposed to working for policies, enlightened policies that will seek to educate a child so that the pipeline from our poorest neighborhoods to our best schools and universities and colleges and not to the prison and then they profit and they don't have the moral courage to even take a second look at what they're doing.

Standing Firm in Our Faith

If those people are saying you are bad, I would not lose a minute of sleep worrying about what they say. And someone might say but it affects people and people are hating us, then we do the positive things that we do to engender love. You want the people to love the Muslims? You don't need a full page ad in the New York Times. You want people to love the Muslims? You don't need a massive public relations campaign. If you want people to love the Muslims and you want to do your part, do what you're doing in Ramadan and keep doing it after Ramadan. Fast on Mondays and Thursdays. Keep reciting your Quran. Keep remembering Allah. And people will love the Muslims, not because I say so, because Allah says so.

Allah's Plan for Love

Allah tells us if you want love for the Muslims, get on Allah's plan. You don't need to hire a public relations firm from Wall Street. You need to open the Quran where Allah says:

Those who believe and do righteous deeds, Allah will make love in the hearts of the people.

Allah will make love in the hearts of the people. So you're going to trust Madison Avenue? You're going to trust the New York Times? Put a nice glossy ad? Or are you going to trust Allah? I'll put my trust in Allah.

Closing Dua

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